The Lord gave us a good adequate day to get into Edinburgh with Garrett. He leaves tomorrow and has been a big help. He and I handed out flyers as I showed him some of the Christian history of our area. We had two really good opportunities to share Christ. One was with a group of three construction workers. The other was with a young lady who has studied philosophy. Both looked at the Bible with us. It was a lot of fun to share some truth with them.

We visited the grave of Thomas Chalmers. He was a great man of God. Every time I go to that graveyard I am amazed at all the "Rev."'s before these men's names. God had a mighty army here 150 years ago. We saw one grave that said, "First Church of Scotland missionary to India and (another country)..." We prayed in the cemetery and asked God to enable us as He enabled these men in the past. We also went into the church where the first general assembly of the Church of Scotland with John Knox presiding was held. We prayed there as well. God has done a great work here in the past. Please pray with us that He will do it again.

Our sending church is my home church where my father has pastored for the last 27 years. Bible Baptist in Hudson, WI has been a wonderful pastorate for dad. Yesterday was my parents last day at Bible Baptist as they have just resigned that ministry. Please pray for God to supply just the right pastor for Bible Baptist and for the church as they go through this transition. 

Also, please pray for my mom and dad as they move on to what God has for them next. Mom has taken a position at another great church and school in IL. My Brother-in-Law is an assistant pastor there and school administrator. Mom is going to be teaching junior high. Dad is going to be helping out in whatever ways God provides. This church is also a supporting church and one with which we have a great relationship.

Thanks for praying for these requests. God has clearly directed in this process and it will be exciting to see how He meets everyone's needs.

One more prayer request - at 9:00 AM EST a friend of mine is coming over to chat about the Bible. I'm looking forward to what God will do in this time and would appreciate your prayers (before or after) that God would use what is said.

We gave a Bible away this morning to the young lady who trusted Christ this past week. Praise the Lord, it was great to have her in church with us. Please continue to pray for the other kids. Many of them are away on the weekends. Please pray that they will be with us on Thursday night for our Kid's Club.

I preached this morning on Psalm 1, The Keys to Happiness. Please pray that God will use His word to open the hearts of all who were there to the source of true happiness.

It is hard to believe that the week is over all ready. God gave us a great week. We have had good HBC's in the past but I really feel like this was our best year. The kids were all a bit older and there was a really good spirit in every activity. All of the kids were disappointed that today was the final day.

We had 2 first time visitors today bringing our total to 30 kids counting Mac. (That meant a pie in the face for me. :)) That is excellent as 3-4 kids that would have been there were on holiday. An eleven year old girl put her trust in Jesus today! That is the highlight of the week. She hopes to come on Sunday. Please pray that she and several others would be able to make it to a church service. 

God has done great things for us whereof we are glad. Thank you for praying for our ministry this week.

God gave us a really good day. It started with sun, then rain, then sun, then clouds, then rain.... Thankfully it was sun when it came to game time. I thought for sure we were going to have to have games inside. 

We had 24 kids plus Mac. Two kids weren't there that have been there. We had one first time visitor today. Tonight we did a special puppet show and then I shared the prophecies of Isaiah 53. 

We finish tomorrow with a pizza party. Please pray that some of the parents will be able to join us. The kids are 2 away from a total of 30 kids and are hoping to give me a pie (not to eat.) We'll see how that works out. 

God's good. Thanks for praying.

Day three brought in 25 children including 2 more first time visitors.  We really could not ask for a more cooperative and attentive group of children!  They are all excited about team points and bringing 5 more children.  We decided if we reach an attendance total of 30 children that Katie could give Pastor Ben a pie in the face!! We'll keep you posted.  Thanks so much for your prayers for this week.

HBC was again a great success. Praise the Lord. We had 21 children (plus Mac) with three new children. One of those was a first time visitor. One child who came yesterday was unable to attend today. God blessed the weather and the rain came down right at the end of our game time.

This afternoon Garrett and I went into Edinburgh. God gave us some wonderful divine appointments.

The first was with 4 workers from a department store who were having a break at a park. As we witnessed to them and I spoke with them about some people I know whom God has delivered from drugs. The girl said, "I've got chill bumps on my arm." Both Garrett and I noticed how what was said seemed to resonate with her. Please pray that they will take the truth to heart and investigate the truth we shared with them.

I also witnessed to a Canadian for about 15 minutes. He believes in aliens but not in God. That sounds way out there. But, I have often found that people who don't believe in God often believe strongly that there is life somewhere else. He is 29 and I hope that some of what we shared will sink into his heart.

The most amazing opportunity was as we were getting ready to cross a road on the Royal Mile. Garrett turned and handed two men our literature. One almost cursed him (we found out) but took the literature and as the cross walk turned a conversation started that lasted for an hour. We stood where we were going to cross the road and I witnessed to J. as Garret witnessed to S. We had asked the Lord to lead us to hurting people. They were both facing a tough time but were both unbelievers. There are too many (God only could do that moments in our conversation.) These are men who use expletives frequently in each sentence. But, they were very kind and listened well. Garret was speaking to a fireman who just lost a buddy in a fire. He personally had his arm broken in the same fire. He was so moved by the conversation with Garret that he gave Garret a ring that was given to him by a person he rescued from a fire. Garrett had told him that if he let God save his soul from eternal fire, he could save others from eternal fire as well.

Here is the amazing bit. That man is from a community about 45 minutes away. I said I had a friend who was a minister there. He said, "That's amazing. I know him. He pointed up and said the Big Man is looking after me." He couldn't get over the fact that I know a minister in his community and told me that he walks by the place where their church meets almost every day. He said he would visit that church. God proved Himself to us and to them. Please pray that both of these men will get saved.

The man I was speaking to is from Germany. His mother is a strong believer in Jesus Christ but he has been seeking for 10 years. Both of them promised to read the Gospels of John that we gave them. Please pray that they would. Thanks for your prayers.

The Lord gave us a great start to our HBC. Although it was raining when we arrived the weather was good during the event. Afterwards, it rained when we were leaving. The program went well. Attendance was good. We had 19 children plus Mac. Three of those were first time visitors. It was a really good start to our week!

Garrett and I walked this morning and had some prayer time. The Lord gave us a divine appointment while we were out and about. We had another really good witnessing opportunity this afternoon as we did flyers. The Lord also gave several great opportunities to invite people to our Holiday Bible Club.

God's good. We've seen His hand in our day. Thanks for praying.

The Lord gave us a good morning. We were pleased to have a man visit both SS and church this morning. He enjoyed his time with us and said that he would be back. Please pray that we can be a blessing to him.

I preached this morning on, "Overwhelmed or Overcoming" from Psalm 31. The kids all surprised Alec with a huge birthday card with all sorts of sweet attached to it. He turns 75 tomorrow!

After church I headed to the airport to collect Garrett. He made it without difficulty praise the Lord. He came out into the terminal about 10 minutes after we arrived. Please pray for our ministry of HBC this week. We'll be decorating the hall tonight and beginning with prayer tomorrow morning at 9:30. The HBC will begin at 10:30 and run to 12:30. Thanks for your prayers.

Thanks for praying for us as we get ready for our Holiday Bible Club. We have put out some more flyers today. This time our whole family went out. It's amazing how much quicker it goes with everyone. 

Katie and the kids are still working on decorations and Katie is preparing the power point for her daily Bible lessons with the kids. Katie has done most of the work in preparation for this. She also did an extra ladies meeting this week. God blessed that opportunity as well. There were 5 ladies and 4 girls present for that.

I had an amazing divine appointment yesterday. Amazing in that I was asked some very sincere questions by someone who wants to get together in the near future to ask more questions. Please pray for God to give me wisdom and that His truth will be made plain. Thanks for your prayers.